Page 74 of Betting on the Bad Boy
He nudged me with an elbow. “Looks like maybe we both fucked up a little.”
I swatted at his chest. “No, you fucked up. Mine was a lie of omission. Not the same thing at all.”
“Semantics. Are we still on or not? I have an hour before I have to start my shift.”
I should call it off. Walk away and chalk this up to a botched experiment. Pull out my planner and figure out how to get back on track before Dante completely derailed me. But my fingers itched to tangle in his hair. My lips tingled, eager for the taste of his tongue.
So instead of kicking him out and getting back to my writing, I nodded.
His mouth quirked into a confident grin. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me through the door.
Dante
“Where are we going?”She tried to keep up as I moved quickly through the shelves of books.
I reached the stairwell and opened the door, pulling her through behind me. One bare bulb above the door lit up the landing. I held onto the metal railing with one hand, my other still grasping hers. Then I began to move down the steps into the darkness of the floor below.
When we reached the landing, I slid a key out of my pocket.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just wait.” I unlocked the door and yanked it open. A blast of warm air blew past us into the stairwell.
“What’s this?”
I nudged her through the doorway and let it slam behind us. “It’s the thirteenth floor.”
We moved through the dim room, past rows of mechanical equipment. The heavy air seemed to part as we passed, the tangy smell of machinery and neglect settling on our shoulders.
She stopped in her tracks, causing me to spin around. “But there is no thirteenth floor.”
“Come on, even you know that’s just superstition. One of the maintenance guys came in the bar over break and I asked him about it. Since the building is so tall, they put half the equipment in the basement and half of it here.”
She looked around. “So, this is the real thirteenth floor?”
“I have to get the key back to him tomorrow.” I ran my thumb over her wrist. Being so close to her... I’d missed this. “I thought it would be fun to check it out.”
She slid her fingers over my palm. “Pretty cool, Dante.”
I’d been looking forward to seeing her for over a week. Now that she was this close, I couldn’t wait any longer. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I crushed my mouth down on hers. Her hands immediately went around my neck, drawing me tight against her. I fumbled with the edge of her shirt, yanking it loose from her jeans.
After fighting through four layers, my fingers finally rested on the soft skin of her waist. I urged her backward until we crashed into a tall metal gate. A loud clang rang out.
She drew back for a moment, and I listened to make sure no one would come because of the noise. Assured we were alone, my hands continued to explore under her shirt. Fuck, she felt good. She pressed against me, making me think she wanted me as much as I was dying to have her. Her desire turned me on so much I thought I would explode.
With her back against the metal cage, she lifted a leg and wrapped it around my waist, urging me even closer. My mouth moved over her neck, her cheek, her ear. In the dim light, I could just make out the heat in her eyes and the way her lips parted. Her hips rose up to meet mine.
I dropped my mouth to her collarbone, and she shivered. She smelled so damn good. As I unbuttoned the front of her shirt, I left a trail of kisses along her neck. Her shirt fell to the floor, and I lifted the edge of her tank top and pushed it up over her bra. She moaned and rocked against me. I wanted to make her scream out my name.
Her hands played in my hair as I knelt down in front of her. She kicked off her boots and watched me with half-closed eyes as I unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down one leg at a time. Her skin was so soft. With my help, her panties followed.
Naked from the waist down, her hands grasped the metal fence behind her, and she moved to a rhythm only she could feel. Still on my knees, I put both hands behind her, cupped her perfect ass, and brought her toward my mouth. She gasped as my tongue tasted her for the first time. I’d been looking forward to this for too fucking long.
It was worth the wait.
I took my time, teasing and flicking my tongue over her most sensitive spot. She writhed against me, her hands clutching the gate behind her head. My fingers slid in and out while my mouth taunted her. She was close.
She whimpered. “I’m close. Yeah, right there. Don’t stop.”
